Dubai, UAE – Saudi Arabia’s GDP grew at 8.7 percent in 2022, which is the highest in the Group of Twenty (G20) nations and higher than projections of several international organizations that had estimated the kingdom’s economy to grow at a maximum of 8.3 percent.
The growth rate is also the highest annual rate in the past decade, according to the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), which said Wednesday that the GDP at current prices reached more than $1 trillion in 2022 for the first time.
GASTAT said all economic activities achieved positive growth rates during 2022, with crude oil and natural gas contributing 32.7 percent, government services activities 14.2 percent, manufacturing activities except oil refining 8.6 percent and wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels 8.2 percent.
Non-oil activities increased by 5.4 percent during 2022, especially transport, storage and communications activities (9.1 percent) followed by manufacturing activities excluding oil refining by 7.7 percent.
In the fourth quarter, the real GDP increased by 5.5 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year, as non-oil activities rose by 6.2 percent compared to the same period of the previous year
The real GDP of oil activities during the fourth quarter of 2022 grew by 6.1 percent compared to the same period of the previous year 2021, while the seasonally adjusted real GDP increased by 1.3 percent during the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to Q3 2022
